The Truth About Petare

Quico says: Petare parish, (in Sucre Municipality of Miranda State) has more registered voters than any other parroquia in Venezuela: 310,430. The barrio it hosts is the biggest in Venezuela. By some accounts, it’s the biggest shantytown in all of South America.

Petare is also a state-of-mind, a kind of by-word for all that afflicts urban Venezuela, a place of immense symbolic resonance.

The other day, Chávez blamed PSUV’s loss in Sucre municipality on the rich, racist oligarchs that infest the district. While some other parroquias within Sucre municipality do have important middle class – though hardly rich – areas, Petare parish itself is pretty much one giant slum.